


Treehouse

by Kapoen



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Bathing/Washing, Bladder Infection, Child Neglect, Doctor aiden, Elf Jaskier | Dandelion, Homeless Jaskier, Hospitals, Hurt Jaskier | Dandelion, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Non-Human Jaskier | Dandelion, Panic Attacks, Police, Running Away, Scars, Sex Talk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29713398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kapoen/pseuds/Kapoen
Summary: Jaskier lives in the woods in his treehouse after he runs away from his family. One day he goes to the city to get some food. After he comes back the bridge he has to cross to get to the woods is closed. He tries to cross it anyway but then two witcher’s show up and offer him some help. Jaskier is still traumatized by the non-human in his family and doesn’t trust them. Can Geralt and his husband Eskel show Jaskier that there are also nice non-humans?
Relationships: Aiden/Lambert (The Witcher), Eskel/Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Eskel/Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Kudos: 78





	1. The bridge

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:
> 
> \- updates on Friday, Monday and Wednesday.
> 
> My friends and I had a challenge. Rewrite your first story.  
> Rules:  
> Change the fandom and characters.  
> Add 5000 words.  
> Add at least three different elements (tags).  
> Add another pov  
> So I changed my story ‘The wolf in the woods’ into this story. I wrote more than 5000 extra words and added 5 extra tags. Enjoy!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this story. English is not my first language so this story properly has some spelling and grammar mistakes. I hope you enjoy it anyway :)

Chapter 1: The bridge

Jaskier was tired, he had spent the entire day in the city looking for food. Not that he had any luck. The supermarket didn’t offer a lot of free food to try that day and Jaskier was sure the security guy knew he never bought anything. He had tried to steal something on the market but the owner caught him, it was only thanks to his excellent condition and speed that he got away. Well his life wasn’t great but it wasn’t totally horrible at least. He had his treehouse in the woods and normally he just ate anything that the woods offered him. Berry’s, leaves or even some rabbits but the winter was coming and the animals needed all the food that there was to find, they couldn’t go to the city like Jaskier to steal something. 

Jaskier smiled when he saw his beloved woods appear in front of him. Home was the only thing he could think of. His safe place. He walked to the bridge he had to cross to go to the woods. He stopped a fence in front of the bridge? “Repairs until 23-6” said the yellow board. Jaskier couldn’t read, but understood that it meant he couldn’t cross the bridge. The big red cross told him so much. 

He tried opening the fence but it didn’t move. He was just about to try to climb over it, when he saw that the rail of the bridge wasn’t blocked. He could easily climb on it and walk across the bridge like that. The rail was small but Jaskier walked on smaller branches in his tree. It would be fine. 

Slowly he lifted himself on the rail. He walked a little bit and swallowed it was a lot more difficult than he thought. The rail was slippy and he was wearing shoes. He hated shoes so he only put them on when he had to go to the city. The shoes were years old and didn’t have any profile left. His left foot slipped and it took all he had not to fall off the rail. 

This was a stupid idea. Very stupid. But there was no going back now, because turning around would be almost impossible without falling. You can do this, just think about your tree he told himself. Suddenly he heard voices behind him and he froze. 

“Geralt is that someone on the bridge?” a male said.

“Shit it is, you think he is going to jump?” Another voice probably Geralt asked. Geralt sounded concerned. 

“We should stop him,” the other, not Geralt voice said.

“You go stop him, I don’t like interfering in other non-human their business” Geralt said, 

Jaskier swallowed. He didn't realize it before but those two were not human as well. Jaskier was an elf, a young one. Great, just great he was standing frozen on the railing of a bridge and two monsters were looking at him. Jaskier only knew other non-humans that were monsters. Maybe they were vampires or werewolves. 

“But Lambert, you smelled it. He is just an elf, a young one, basically a baby elf”. That was an insult. Jaskier was nineteen, absolutely not a baby elf. Maybe he wasn’t really of age in his culture but in human years he was an adult. 

“I know you can hear us, so can you please step down. Let my nephew see that you're okay and then we can all be on our way” Geralt yelled at him. No way, there was no way he would end up as their dinner. 

Jaskier turned around a little to tell them that, but the movement made his feed slip. Almost making him fall. He froze completely. 

“I.. I.. am okay, I’m not going to jump don’t worry. Just go. I’m only trying to cross the bridge”. He felt his own heartbeat was going faster. He was scared. The possibility that he was going to die was big. By the claws of those monsters or the water in the river. He couldn’t swim. Can elfs drown easily? Or would he know how to swim naturally like some animals did he asked himself, yeah they probably could. At least he hoped so. 

“Take it easy elf, it’s going to be okay. Just turn around and come down” Lambert said. He tried to sound calm, but his voice betrayed him. 

“I really think I shouldn’t turn around, I will just walk really fast to the woods,” Jaskier said. Because what choice does he have? He would fall if he turned around and walked straight to the monsters and he never ever wanted to be close to any monster again. Slowly he put one foot in front the other and spread his arms. He took a deep breath. 

“We can bring you to the woods if that is what you want, there are a lot of woods around here, no reason to take this bridge” Lambert said. He is calmer than Geralt, but he looked weird. 

“Yeah elf, we will bring you wherever you want. What is your name?”. Geralt asked. Jaskier knew they walked closer, their voices were louder now. Why couldn’t they leave him alone? Please go, he begged in silence. 

“I don’t need other woods, I need this part”. He walked slowly and he was almost half way the bridge. 

“Can elfs drown?’ He doesn’t know why he asked but he needed to know. He needed to know if he is facing a possible terrible death. 

“Nobody is going to drown today. Take it easy” Lambert said. Jaskier took another deep breath and he was sweating he noticed. The whole situation left him so confused. He didn’t know what to do. 

He put his right foot in front of his left and he was swaying to the right, to the water. He suddenly felt a bit dizzy, tired, hungry and scared, very scared. It took all he had to lower himself to sit on the railing. He knew he must get up. To go home. But he felt trapped. Tears were burning behind his eyes. Why was his life so horrible! Why couldn’t he have any luck? 

“Do something,” Lambert told Geralt. Geralt didn't react. At least not by answering Lambert.

“I’m fine please go. I am not going to jump or something, I just need to go home. It will be fine” his voice sounded unsteady. That last part was more for himself than for the two monsters. 

“Boy, elf. Don’t lie we know. We even smell that you're not fine. You're scared and hungry. And there are only woods the way you're going, no house” Lambert told him. Jaskier started to dislike Lambert, he didn’t know why. Jaskier knew everything Lambert said was true, but to point it out like this that wasn’t necessary. He needed to get away from them. He swallowed and got up again. He needed to try and cross the bridge. Here goes nothing he told himself. 

He slowly stood up again. Lambert yelled to him to stay seated but Lambert has nothing to say over him, it just motivated him. He walked again. He could smell the woods, home, he walked a little faster and then... 

Then he slipped, it happened very fast, too fast one second he was walking, the next he was falling. He heard himself scream. He felt the water surrounding him. He kicked and hit the water, it was everywhere, it was in his mouth. He was going to die. He felt the panic, there is nothing he could do, he would drown, an elf can drown. 

~

Geralt watched the Elf losing his balance. “He is going to fall,” Lambert yelled. Geralt watched while his brother was proven right, the elf lost his balance and fell to the water. Geralt and Lambert both run to the shore looking for the elf. They didn’t see him. 

“Do you think he can swim?” Lambert yelled. Geralt shook his head. “If he could he wouldn’t worry about drowning. He felt himself panicking. He couldn’t let the elf die. Without really thinking about it he jumped in the water and started to swim. He didn’t see or hear the boy so he dived underwater. Where was he? 

He swam around underwater and tried to find him. Just when he thought he wouldn’t find him he saw a red spot. The elf had been wearing a red shirt. He swam to the spot and he could see a body. It didn’t move. He caught the body and swam to the surface. He immediately took a deep breath when he felt the air around him. He felt the elf move in his arm but he didn't breath. There was probably water in his lungs. 

“Spill it out” he yelled he tightened his grip around his chest to help him push the water out. He had to do it a few times before he heard the elf starting to spill the water out. 

~

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder. It gripped him tight. Another hand was around his chest. He was being lifted, he was moving up. His head broke the surface and he felt the air around him. He still couldn't breath. Why couldn’t he breathe. Did the monsters put a spell on him?

“Spill it out” a voice told him, there were hands moving him, swimming with him. The arm around his chest tightens very fast, goes soft and tightens again, it made him throw up the water he had inside him. He could breathe again. He grasped for air over and over again. He felt himself being lifted on the shore. 

Other hands are there. “Calm down, you are fine”. Jaskier tried to calm down, he tried to slow his breathing. “In and out, in and out. Good just like this” somebody told him. Jaskier followed the voice and felt himself calming. 

After some time he even slowly opened his eyes. Two men, witcher’s he realized now by their yellow eyes, were looking down at him. One had black hair and the other one had long white hair. They were both staring at him. 

“Thank you” he said because you should say something to the people who save your life even if you don’t like them.

“You're welcome” The black haired one said.

“You just stood by Lambert I jumped in, it’s no problem elf” the white haired witcher said, so it is clear now who Lambert is and who Geralt is. Geralt saved his life. He didn’t know what to feel. He had to hate the witcher, because he hated all non-human things but he was also a little grateful. Thanks to Geralt he was still alive. 

Jaskier sat up. He could think about those witchers for too long. He needed to find another way to get home, no way he was going to try the railing again. 

“Well thanks again, I just be on my way home, I hope I didn’t screw up your plans for tonight too bad” he told them. He stood up, he felt dizzy and really felt the urge to leave so soon as possible. 

“Where is your home, I will bring you” Geralt said his voice was steady and Jaskier thought that he wasn’t lying. But he couldn’t risk it. 

Jaskier shook his head. “I don’t live in the city, I don’t need a ride. I will find my own way,” he tried to smile. 

Lambert walked close to him and sniffed “I don’t smell any kind of soap”. 

Jaskier stepped back. “Well I just fall in the river so it probably washed off” 

“No he should still be smelling it. Also you're very hungry I hear your stomach. You don’t shower. Your clothes are very old, dirty and falling apart. Your eyes tell me you're tired. So elf, I think you're homeless and live in the woods, that's why you're so desperate to get back” Lambert told him and Jaskier panicked. He does the only thing he could think of, go to his safe woods. No matter what risk it was. 

So he turned around and ran to the bridge again. He doesn’t think and acts on instinct. Hands graphed him. 

“You think he is suicidal or just stupid, Geralt” Lambert voice sounded angry. 

Geralt appeared in front of him, so Lambert was holding him. Geralt raised his hand and Jaskier tried to make himself small. He knew what was going to come, he was going to get hit. Of course it’s a monster, and monsters hurt you but he just patted his cheek.

“Calm down, I don’t think he is either Lambert, he is very scared, maybe traumatized even. Don’t worry baby elf I never hurt someone in my care”. Jaskier opened his eyes and looked at Geralt. 

“I’m not in your care,” he said slowly, he was confused. 

Geralt looked at him for a long time. “You live in the woods right?” his voice was softer now. 

Jaskiers swallowed “yeah, but I like it. I wouldn’t want to live any other way” he tried to explain to them that he wasn’t in need for rescuing. Lambert let go of him slowly. Geralt's eyes looked him up and down. 

Jaskier shook his head, no he would not go with non-humans not again. “No, leave me alone, please I didn’t know that the bridge would be closed, I will wait. I will not be trying to get on the railing again. Please don’t force me”. He was begging, he was shaking and crying. He didn’t want to be hurt again. He couldn’t take it. 

Geralt looked lost for a second. 

“Ssh, calm down, you are okay. Nobody will hurt you. I didn’t save your life to hurt you later. Elf I wish you told me your name. You're safe. Being under my care only means that I provide you a bed, food, a shower, a doctor if necessary and keep you safe. I expect nothing in return. I promise you no one will hit you or otherwise hurt you”. Geralt told him while he tried to make eye contact with Jaskier. 

“I promised myself never to stay with another non-human or monster again I’m sorry”. Jaskier said he would rather be scared in the city than staying with them. 

“Okay I understand. What if I tell you there lives a human with us”. Jaskier was shocked he never thought that all non-humans were so bad. 

“You try to convince me by telling me you keep humans as prisoners”. Geralt looked like Jaskier just hit him.

“No of course not, you mean there are monsters that do that? Of course they are. That is so wrong. I’m talking about Valdo, our housekeeper. He is human. I would never hurt him or keep him as a prisoner. He isn’t home much, when he doesn’t have to work. He lives with his brother as well on his free days. But you can meet him and see that we don’t hurt other humans and non-humans” Geralt explained. 

Was he seriously considering this? “Fine”. Jaskier said he didn’t know why he said it, because it is not fine but he was too tired to care now. He was cold and very hungry and he knew he wasn’t going to get rid of those witchers otherwise. 

“Oke, you will not regret it, Lambert go get the car” Geralt told the other witcher. 

Lambert gave him a dirty look and left. “Oh Lambert, call Eskel to tell him about our guest”. 

Jaskier swallowed, was this the right choice, it didn’t feel like it, he hoped he would survive this. 

~

Geralt waited with the elf until Lambert came back with their car. “Are you cold?” He asked the boy who was completely soaken. The elf didn’t react. Geralt thought he looked cold but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now. He was soaken as well, so he couldn’t offer the boy his sweater. 

“There are blankets in the car and we don’t live far,” he told the elf. Again he didn’t get a reaction. He sighed and it felt a bit awkward to have a one sided conversation like this. He still didn’t understand why the boy was living in the woods. Why wasn’t he living with his family? 

Lambert parked the car in front of them and stepped out. “I called Eskel,” he said. Geralt nodded and opened the door of the backseat. He looked at the elf. “Climb in” he told him. The elf hesitated before getting in the car. He just sat on the seat and looked at his lap. Geralt took the seat belt and buckled him up. “Get me a blanket,” he told Lambert. 

Lambert moved to the trunk and came back with a big blue blanket. Geralt put it around the elf and tucked him in. “Is it alright like this?” He asked. The elf just nodded. Geralt closed the door of the car and went to the driver seat. He really hoped that Eskel could get the boy to loosen up a bit. He really needed Eskel’s gentleness with him. 

“It’s just a ten minute drive,” he told the elf. He didn’t expect a reaction but he got a small whisper. Only because of his witcher sentence he heard him whisper ‘okay”. Geralt sighed and started the car. At least the boy would be safe in their home soon.


	2. Eskel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geralt and Lambert take Jaskier to Kaer Morhen

Chapter 2: Eskel

Geralt drove the car to a big industrial area. Jaskier sat in the backseat of their car. He was biting his nails. He felt so stressed. He should never have agreed with this. 

“We own a building around here and rebuilt it into a house. Lambert, Eskel and I are living there and Lambert’s boyfriend Aiden. He is really nice, getting a degree in medicine. Eskel is also getting a degree in psychology. We are trying to build a life in the twenty-first century where witchers aren’t needed anymore” Geralt explained to him. 

Jaskier wasn’t interested in the small talk. Well he did want to know how many witcher’s there would be living in Geralt’s house. Apparently four, and some there were in a relationship together. 

“Listen, I understand that you are very private. That is totally fine, but can we know your name? I mean I don’t think you like being called baby elf or boy” Lambert asked him. Geralt gave him a glare. Geralt probably thought he was going to freak out again now. Jaskier was a bit ashamed of the panic attack he just had. But he wasn’t going to tell his name. He was pretty sure his former family put a price on his head and Jaskier wasn’t a common name around here. Even if he changed his given name it wasn’t worth the risk. If someone found out he was Julian of Letterhove. It would be bad. 

“I don’t want to tell you my name, you can call me whatever you want. I will be gone in a few days anyway” he told them. Lambert and Geralt didn’t react at all but Jaskier knew they didn’t like it. Well he didn’t like going with them either so they were even. 

Geralt parked the car and stepped out. Jaskier followed him to a big black building with graffiti on it. It didn’t look like a house. “You live here,” Jaskier asked confused. Lambert nodded and opened the door. “It doesn’t look great on the outside but the inside. Just like witchers” he joked. 

Jaskier walked in after them, inside the building was a house. A pretty nice one even. Lambert was right. There was a big room with a kitchen, multiple sitting corners, a sort of library and the biggest tv Jaskier had ever seen. There was also a big staircase that brought you to a balcony. Upstairs was a long corridor with several doors. 

“Welcome to Kaer Morhen 2.0” Geralt told him proudly. 

“Geralt, Lambert, good to see you both. Is this the elf?” Somebody said. Jaskier looked at the man who was walking down the stairs. He was one of the other witchers so that must be Eskel or Aiden.

“I’m Eskel nice to meet you”. It was Geralt’s partner, if he remembered right. Eskel walked over to him and went to shake his hand. Jaskier didn’t shake hands so he just stared at it.

“Baby elf here, is a little bit nervous, Eskel. He didn’t tell us his name and we are okay with that” Geralt said while he was giving Eskel the message that he should not try to make Jaskier talk about that. 

“Can you maybe show Jaskier the bathroom, he needs to wash. He doesn’t like us so maybe you can help him” Geralt asked or more told Eskel. Jaskier didn’t understand why Eskel would be better than Geralt or Lambert. All witchers were the same for him. 

Eskel smiled. “No problem, come elf, is it okay that I call you elf? We can give you a make up name like Simon or James or whatever you want” Eskel offered kindly.

Jaskier didn’t react. “Okay elf it is, but you can change that at any time” Eskel told him. Jaskier couldn’t care less. He wasn’t going to stay here long anyway. 

~

Geralt watched the elf and Eskel disappear in the bathroom. “It’s really a baby elf isn’t it?” Lambert said. Geralt knew he was surprised he was surprised as well. He tried to listen to the conversation Eskel and the elf had. Apparently Eskel needed to bath the elf he couldn’t or didn’t want to do it himself.

“Maybe. Elves live longer but they grow up at the same age as humans, right?” he checked. The elf should be around twenty, an adult but he didn’t act like one.

“Yeah, as far as I know they do. They are thoughts of as children longer because they life so long but mentally, emotionally and cognitively speaking this shouldn’t be any different then a human twenty something kid” Lambert said. Geralt nodded it was getting more and more confusing. 

“You brought a homeless elf home” Geralt looked at Aiden who walked in the living room. Aiden went to give Lambert a quick kiss. Lambert kissed him back. 

“We did. The stupid kid fell of a bridge. He almost drowned. He apparently lives in the woods. It’s so stranges. It’s a baby elf. Well not really a baby but a young one. Just twenty years old or something” Lambert tried to explain.

“What? Why does he live in the woods?” Aiden asked, confused.

“We don’t know, he didn’t even tell us his name” Lambert said.

“Strange indeed,” Aiden said and they all started to listen to the conversation Eskel and the elf had. 

~

Jaskier followed Eskel upstairs to a big bathroom. It had a bath and a shower. Jaskier looked at it. It was years ago when he last had been in a bathroom, it was before he ran away when he was twelve. 

“Do you want to shower or take a bath, both are fine. I will get you some clean clothes, a toothbrush, you want anything else” Eskel offered. Jaskier didn’t answer. He didn’t know what he wanted, a bath or a shower and what kind of stuff was anything else? Should he ask for a towel, or did they not use towels here? It was so strange and confusing. 

“Maybe it’s best if I run you a bath, you look pretty tired. Is that okay?” Eskel asked. Jaskier just nodded his head. He didn’t like to talk much. Eskel opened the taps in the bath to make sure the water was the right temperature. 

“So you can hop in now, how old are you?” Eskel asked. 

Jaskier started taking his stupid shoes off, he really hated them. Bathing still happened naked right? ‘I’m nineteen. How old are you?” he asked back. Eskel got him a big towel, so they use those here too. 

“I’m eight honderd years old, just like Geralt. Lambert is somewhere in around seven honderd and Aiden is nine hundred” Eskel explained. Jaskier didn’t react, they were old, like really old. Elves could live long as well. He didn’t care about those things now was just too happy to have taken his stupid shoes off. 

“Are you going to stay in here and bathe me?” he asked Eskel. He remembered being washed when he was younger. He didn’t know if that was normal or not. He didn’t really know a lot of things after so long in the woods and then his family wasn’t normal to begin with. He didn’t know if anything they did was normal. 

Eskel smiles at him. “I can help you if you want me to, but I could also leave. I don’t mind either”. 

Jaskier didn’t like all those choices he had to make, you never knew if you chose wrong. What would happen then? Eskel didn’t look like a bad person, still a witcher, he had been very kind to Jaskier. 

“You can help”. He prepares for a hit or someone telling him he made the wrong choice but it never comes. Eskel just smiles at him. 

Jaskier took the rest of his clothes off and stepped in the bath. Eskel looked suddenly sad and Jaskier looked surprised at him. What did he do wrong? 

“I can see that you must have endured a lot of pain to get these scars so young” Eskel said. Jaskier didn’t answer. He looked down at the scars, he was used to them, he could see his ribs, he should start to hunt for rabbits again since he was not going back to the city again when he was back in his treehouse. He hated to kill animals but he didn't want to starve either. It was necessary. 

Eskel handed him a cloth with soap on it. “Wash your body with it”. He tried to smile again. 

Jaskier wasn’t sure what to do with it. He gave Eskel the cloth back. Eskel took it and started washing his body slowly. He didn’t touch the scars. It was nice.

“You know your scars don’t have to hurt. There are special creams that make them stop. As witchers we have nasty scars that hurt us sometimes because of the monster hunting we did. The cream helps a lot. If you want I can ask Aiden for some cream, he is almost a doctor now he knows what cream helps with scars. Jaskier played a bit with the water. He didn’t know that the pain could stop. He was used to it. 

“I didn’t know you could make this kind of pain go away” he told Eskel. Eskel smiled and took a new cloth. “I will go over every spot again. I will do your back and hair after that. I can ask Aiden to come in and take a look at those scars quickly so we can put the cream on them before you go to sleep. Maybe they will hurt less when you wake up” Eskel offered. 

Jaskier really liked Eskel, maybe because he is so different from all the other monsters he had met. They never cared about how he felt. Eskel did seem to care about that. 

“But he is a witcher,” Jaskier said. He didn’t want another witcher close to him. Eskel nodded and started washing his back. 

“I know. but I will be here with you. And if you want him to go, you only have to say go. Aiden is really nice, he had an opportunity to be a king once but he didn’t take it. He was rather a witcher who could focus on his study to help other witchers and humans than to have power. So I promise you, he is the last witcher on earth to hurt you. Your back is clean now” Eskel ensured him. 

Jaskier didn’t know what to do. He believed Eskel but could he trust another witcher for a few minutes to get rid of the pain? He was leaning to the pain free side. It would make him a better elf, he would need less time to get up when he falls while hunting rabbits, less time to catch a breath. He would sleep without turning so many times. Eskel was massaging shampoo in his hair. Eskel was making him feel so good. 

“Aiden can come if he goes when I say go” he decided. Eskel squeezed his shoulder. 

“Okay, let me raise your hair first”. He took the shower head and cleaned his hair of the shampoo.

“Aiden, can you come to the bathroom for a sec” Eskel yelled. Jaskier knew this was for the show. Aiden, Geralt and Lambert were probably eavesdropping the whole time. Jaskier couldn’t blame them, it would be pretty stupid to leave your partner with an strange non-human and not to keep an eye on them. 

There was a knock on the door quickly. “Come in,” Eskel said. He kneeled next to Jaskier on the floor. The door opened and a witcher came in. He smiled and walked slowly to Jaskier. 

“Hello, I’m Aiden, how can I help you” Aiden asked. He squatted down beside Jaskier. He looked friendly at Jaskier’s face. It still didn’t trust him. 

“Elf here has some scars that hurt him, maybe you can take a look at them and give him the right cream,” Eskel explained for him.

Aiden nodded. “Would it be alright if I take a look at your body, I won’t touch anything without asking you first” Aiden asked Jaskier. Jaskier just nodded again. 

Aiden leaned over the bath and looked at his chest, legs and back as good as he possibly can while half of Jaskier was still under water. 

“Elf, there are four pretty bad ones that I can see, one is on your stomach, one on your back, one on your knee and one at your collarbone. I would like to touch those four to see how bad they are and how deep the scars are. I would also like to see the back of your legs and butt. If you can stand up really quick then I can take a fast look” Aiden asked. 

Jaskier took a breath and stood up. Eskel helped him and his hand never left his shoulder. “There is a pretty bad one on your right leg as-well, that must be hurting when you sit. And two on your butt. May I touch those?” Aiden checked. 

Jaskier didn’t know what to say he looked at Eskel. “He will be gentle and fast,” Eskel ensured him. Jaskier looked at Aiden and nodded. He felt Aiden touch the scars and the skin around it. It did hurt but not too much. Eskel patted his shoulder. 

“You're doing great elf. Very good”. Aiden moved to the other scars, those did hurt. Jaskier felt a tear rolling on his cheek. 

“Ssh elf. You are very brave. Aiden is almost done” Eskel told him.. Aiden stood up after examining his leg. 

“I’m done you can sit down again”. Eskel guided him down. Pulling him against his chest. 

“Do you even want to sit, with the scars on your legs and butt?” Aiden asked concerned. 

“I'm used to it, you are going to make it better right,” Jaskier said they did hurt but Jaskier always had scars that hurt. Aiden gave him a little smile. 

“Yeah I have creams that will make the pain lessen with around 85%. I had to touch them to find out how bad and deep they are. Just to be sure, they are all cast by magic right”. 

Jaskier looked at Eskel again. “Elf, it’s okay, can you answer Aiden?” Eskel told him. Jaskier looked at his hands. “They are all from magic” he whispered. Eskel gave him a compliment again. He didn’t know why he was so happy that Eskel found him a good boy. He shouldn’t. 

“Okay that's all I need to know about your scars. I will make the right cream and bring it to you to put on when you finish bathing. Is there anything else I can help you with? Any pains or cramps. You can tell me or Eskel anything. We want to help you” Aiden told him. Jaskier shook his head. He didn’t want to tell the witcher more. 

“Aiden I have a question, elf here hasn’t been eating very much as you can see from his ribs. Do you have advice for him on how to fatten up a little” Eskel asked nodding to his ribs. 

Aiden looked at Jaskier again. “Are you okay to talk about this?” He checked. 

Eskel asked him a question he should just answer. “It’s fine” he said hiding his face in Eskel his shirt. 

“Can you tell me what you ate last week?” Aiden asked him. 

Jaskier didn’t like the question because he knew they wouldn’t like the answer, he did kill animals after all and he stole food. “I didn’t eat much. Winter is coming so the animals need it more. I ate four leaves and sixteen berry’s everyday. I also ate one small rabbit when I got very hungry. In the summer I can eat whatever I want. That’s why I was in the city. I wanted to steal food, but it didn’t really go well today”. Stealing was bad, they will hurt him for that. 

He felt that Eskel was hugging him tighter. Aiden looked angry. “I’m sorry to make you angry. It wasn't like I wanted to kill the animals or to steal, really I didn’t want to, I was helping the animals. Are you calling the police?” He asked. Were they going to send him to prison? 

Eskel patted his back. “I’m not angry at you, I'm angry that you had to live like that. It makes me sad”. Eskel let go of him.

“It’s fine I have been living in the woods since I was twelve I know how to survive”. He tried to assure them. Somehow that made Aiden and Eskel look even more sad.

‘Well I would advise Eskel to make you some soup or chicken to start with since I don’t know where they sell rabbit meat, your stomach will be able to handle that. You can build from there. If you allow me to elf I would like to keep an eye on your health as long as you stay here. Maybe you can come to my medical room tomorrow so I can weight you, take your blood pressure and stuff like that to make sure you're not in any other pain” Aiden offered. 

Apparently Eskel found that a good idea because he thanked Aiden. 

“I will leave you two now. Elf you can always call me if you need anything. I don’t care if it is the middle of the night or if it isn’t medical. Just say Aiden come and I will come” Aiden told him, before leaving. 

Jaskier tried to give him a smile. He looked nice for a witcher but Jaskier knew that most monsters show their real face later. Aiden and Eskel wouldn’t be any different. He just decided to enjoy Eskel’s hug a moment longer. 

~

Geralt was sitting in the kitchen, he was listening to Eskel, Aiden and Jaskier. “I thought that all elfs lifted together nowadays. In their own territories. I never heard of one living by himself. Especially not that young” Lambert said. Geralt agreed with him. Humans weren’t nice to elves so they lived in their own small villages with their own schools, police stations and hospitals. Elves were rarely seen outside their villages and If they left, they left in groups.

“Well he is abused bad” Aiden said. “Those scars are terrible. He was young when they hurt him. I’m not sure if he lived in an elven village. They don’t treat there children like that”. 

“There are still some elfs living on there own” Geralt said. He met a few although that wasn’t recently. 

“Eskel is handling this really well” Aiden said looking at the door where Jaskier was behind. Geralt was proud of Eskel because Aiden was right. 

“He was always good with children and scared people. I wished I could give him his own child” Geralt sighed, his husband deserved a child to take care of and love”.


	3. Sleep

Chapter 3: sleep 

“Come, you dry yourself and I will go get you a toothbrush” Eskel told Jaskier. Jaskier got out of the bath and took a fluffy towel from Eskel and started drying his body. Eskel came back in and handed him some black underwear and a blue pyama. He helped Jaskier put it on. 

“Do you normally brush your teeth?” Eskel asks. Jaskier shook his head. He never really thought about those things only when his mouth hurt.

“Do you know how to”. Jaskier shook his head again “I am not used to”. Eskel nodded and put the toothbrush under the water from the sink. Then he puts something withe on it. “Can you open your mouth?” He asked. Jaskier opened his mouth and Eskel started to brush his teeths. It felt strange but it didn't hurt much.

After that Eskel gives him a glass of water to raise his mouth. He spilled the water out and saw blood in the sink. “Your gum is infected from not cleaning it enough. It will get better if we brush it twice a day” Eskel explained. “Do you need to use the bathroom before going to the bedroom?” Eskel asked. Jaskier shook his head. He hadn’t been drinking much so he didn’t have to pee. 

“Do you want to eat or sleep? Both are completely fine” Eskel gave him a choice again. Jaskier wanted both. He is hungry and tired. 

“Is it possible to eat quickly and sleep then?” He whispered hopefully not overstepping a boundary here. Eskel squeezes his shoulder again, he does that a lot. 

“Totally fine, I will ask Geralt to make chicken soup, you can eat that in your bed. Come on”. Jaskier followed Eskel. Eskel doesn’t ask Geralt to make the soup but Jaskier saw him walking to the kitchen anyway. It proved what he already knew Geralt was listening to them.

Eskel took Jaskier’s hand and took him to a bedroom, it had a single bed, a closet and a big blue chair in it. On the nightstand was a bottle of cream. Eskel picked it up. 

“Aiden works fast, put this on twice a day. Let’s do that now” Eskel said. “We just have to undress you again”. Jaskier let Eskel undress him. He was naked again and Eskel put cream on every scar he could find. The salve felt cold and it made the pain less immediately. Then Eskel redressed him. Jaskier liked it that Eskel helped him so much. 

“I’m going to get you some water,” he left the room. Jaskier could hear him talking to the other witchers. 

“Did you find the cream and told him to put it on twice a day?” Asked Aiden.

“Yeah but we have to help him with that, How is the soup?” Eskel answered. 

“I kept it as plain as possible, I don’t think he is used to the taste of spice and herbs”, Geralt told him.

“Geralt, how is it possible that we never knew that there was an elf living in the woods so close. We should have smelled him”. Eskel sounded mad. Jaskier started climbing on the bed. It was soft. Were they mad at him? Did they think Jaskier should have let them know he was there sooner? 

“I’m not sure but I never spent much time around that part of the city and I always go to different woods. And he chose his time to visit the city wisely. There is a lot of bad weather on his way, to wash his scent away”. Geralt told Eskel and he was right about that, Jaskier was very careful. 

“I just really don’t like it, that there was a kid living in the woods so close to us and we never knew. What if you hadn’t been there tonight. He would have drowned and nobody would miss him or care”. Eskel was talking very fast, he really didn’t like it that Jaskier lived in the woods alone. 

“Well we know he lives there now, so we can help him, check on him. And from now on we would miss him, and care” Aiden said to the other witchers. 

Jaskier was getting angry, that wasn’t the deal. This was a mistake. He should not have come here, they are going to take his home away, they were going to force him to stay. They would hunt him like he was a monster, and cover it up by saying they just cared about him.

“Eskel you better get back to him, his heart is going very fast. Maybe he didn’t like what Aiden just said or something else is wrong” Lambert said.

“Well, hand me some water and I will go,” Eskel said. Jaskier heard Eskel walking upstairs again. Eskel knocks on his door even though it’s open. 

“Can I come in?” Eskel asked. Jaskier doesn’t answer. Eskel walked in.

“You can say no, it is your room as long as you stay here. You heard what Aiden said and you didn’t like it”. He sat down on the bed next to Jaskier.

“I was really hoping that as soon as I was home again, you would leave me alone” he said quietly. 

Eskel handed him the water. “Sit up before drinking it” he told Jaskier and helped him sit up and held the glass while he made Jaskier drink from it. “We wouldn’t force you to do anything. I would only bring some food in the winter. Aiden would check on you sometimes to ask if you are okay. If ever a scary, bad monster comes close to you we will fight it for you. More than that we won’t do. You will hardly see us at all. We will only make things a little easier for you” Eskel explained. 

Jaskier slowly drank the water, he wished that he could believe Eskel, but he knew better. They were going to force him to go back to his family. Collect the bounty. They would use him, hit him, he would never see his treehouse again. Not run in his woods, not pet the deers or feed the birds. 

“Hè it’s okay, don’t cry” Eskel said, the glass disappeared. Jaskier hadn’t realized that he was crying. 

“Please I just want to live in the woods, I’m happy there. I really don’t want to live anywhere else. I don’t want you to hurt me”. Eskel was hugging him now. His face was against his chest. 

“We would never force you. Calm down. I promise as soon as you can cross the bridge you can come home. We won’t come by often max once every two weeks for a half hour top. You would still be a lonely elf, just one with back-up if necessary” Eskel explained. 

Jaskier calmed himself down, Eskel put the glass against his lips again. Jaskier pushed it away. “I’m done drinking” he told Eskel, he didn’t like drinking and Eskel moved the glass away. He didn't drink much. 

“I will put it on the nightstand so you can drink if you get thirsty again”. There was another knock on the door. 

~

Geralt kept listening to the elf and Eskel. He was feeling horrible about not realizing sooner that the kid lived in the woods alone. Aiden said he had really bad scars caused by magic. Somebody had been hurting the boy a lot when he was younger. A mage probably. Normally he would have asked Yennefer to come and to trace the magic back to the mage. But he didn’t think the elf would appreciate it right now. Revenge would have to wait. 

Aiden had guessed that the scars were still hurting the elf every day. Geralt really wished he could have helped him. At least he promised himself he would hunt down everyone who had hurt the elf.

He looked at the soup that he was cooking. He hoped the elf would like it. They probably had to feed it to him. He was depending on their help for now. To wash him, brush his teeths, dress him, and put his cream on. Eskel was even holding his glass of water for him. Geralt didn’t mind. They were glad that they could help the kid. He just really hoped that the elf would tell them his name.

He was probably too scared for that. Whoever hurt him must have terrified him. He shouldn’t be afraid anymore. Geralt had been called the butcher for a reason. If it was ever necessary to protect his loved ones he would pick up his sword again without any second thoughts. He had a feeling the elf would join the small group of people he loved soon. He did some soup in a cup and walked to the stairs.

~

Jaskier looked at the door where someone was knocking on. “I got soup, can I bring it in?” Geralt asked. Jaskier looked at Eskel. 

“It’s your room, you can make the choice”. Jaskier stares at the door. What should he do?

“Why do you keep giving me choices, I don’t like that”. The door opens and Geralt steps in. 

“If we give you a choice both options are fine with us. You can’t choose wrong. We would never give you a bad option” Geralt explained and he hands Eskel the soup.

“Is it not too hot Ger?” Eskel asked testing it himself. 

“No I let it cool down a bit before bringing it, you can eat it”. Jaskier looked at the soup and Eskel picked up the spoon and moved it to Jaskier’s mouth. Jaskier takes a small bite. It doesn’t taste bad. He let Eskel feed him the soup. 

“Do you want any of us to stay with you or would you rather be on your own and go to sleep?” Eskel asked after he finished feeding him the soup. 

So there is not a wrong answer, he was taking a risk but Jaskier had to know if it was true. “I want to see Aiden and then I want to be on my own,” Jaskier said his heartbeat went very fast. He immediately regretted it. 

Eskel stands up. “That’s fine, are you hurting?” He asked concerned. Jaskier wanted to answer but Geralt beat him to it. 

“Eskel, let’s go. Goodnight Jaskier I will send Aiden. You can always ask for him. If there is anything at all, something you need tonight just ask, yell for us to come to our room, it’s next to yours, you can come in anytime just nock, if you need Aiden you can go to him as well” Geralt told him. They left the room then.

There was a knock on his door again quickly after they left. “Can I come in?” Aiden asked. Jaskier suddenly didn’t know why he asked for Aiden, it had been a test to find out if they would really leave him and send up anyone he asked for. But what was he supposed to do now? 

“Elf, your heartbeat is going really fast, I'm coming in okay” Aiden said. 

Jaskier shook his head but Aiden couldn’t see that.

“No, don’t, I’m fine. I don’t need you anymore. Go”. He started shaking, he had made a terrible mistake. Aiden would be mad that he had come up here for nothing. He put his hand on his head forgetting all about the water until it fell over him wetting his pajama and blanket. “Oh no” he said out loud. 

The door opened and Aiden walked to him immediately. “Are you hurt?” he asked, lifting the glass of water off the bed. Jaskier shook his head. “Sorry” Jaskier whispered. 

“I’m glad to hear that, I’m sorry I came in without your permission but you were panicking”. Aiden said and he walked to the door and opened it again. “He is fine Geralt, just bring some clean pyjamas, another blanket and some more water”. Aiden asked while he closed the door again. And goes to sit on the same spot as where Eskel just sat. 

“Are you hurting?” Aiden asked again. Jaskier shook his head again. 

“Okay I just wanted to be sure. Is it okay if I take this wet blanket away. Jaskier nodded, he is still shaking. Aiden takes the blanket off Jaskier and puts it in the corner. 

“We have a lot of blankets and pajamas so wetting a few is not a problem at all. We just wash them. There is also more water. Shall I help you outta those wet pajamas?” Aiden offered. Jaskier let him undress him just like Eskel did, Aiden was really kind as well. 

There is another knock on his door. Jaskier looked desperate at Aiden. Did he tell the person to come in?

“It’s okay you made enough choices today I will take over for now. Tomorrow you can make them again” Aiden told him. Jaskier felt relieved. 

“Come in Geralt” Aiden said. Geralt walked in and Eskel walked in after him with the water. Aiden takes the pajama’s and dresses him in them. Then he put the new blanket around Jaskier and then helped him drink the water again. Jaskier doesn’t know what to do or think. He is tired of thinking.

When Aiden takes the glass with water away, he hands the empty glass to Eskel. “You go to sleep now, we leave. Goodnight” Aiden told Jaskier. 

They left the room and Geralt turned the light off. He is alone in the room in a house full of witchers. They washed him, fed him, and made him special cream. How on earth did they expect him to pay them back. He needed to leave here as soon as possible. But not tonight they would hear him. He should try to sleep. 

It’s hard to sleep when you are used to nature sounds around you and your plush animals. The smells are different and his senses are on full alert. It makes sleeping difficult. He has been trying to sleep for a long time. He wants to sleep so bad. 

~

The witchers sat down at the kitchen table. “Poor kid” Eskel said while drinking from his tea. “He couldn’t even wash himself. It was like he never saw a bathroom before” Geralt didn’t like it that his husband looked sad.

“We will help him” he just said and he meant it.

“The elf is so terrified of us, that he didn’t even tell us his name. I don’t think he wants our help” Lambert said. Geralt guessed he was right but maybe they could get the elf to trust them. “Maybe we can bring him to an elven village where they can take care of him,” Lambert suggested.

“No,” Eskel said immediately. “I mean he didn’t leave his family because they threaten him so well. I think it better to keep an eye on him ourselves. That way we can be sure nobody hurts him”. Geralt leaned back in his chair. He guessed Eskel was right, Jaskier left with a good reason. Bringing him to an elves village would break the boy's trust. And it would not only be good for the elf to stay here. He saw that Eskel liked to have someone to take care of. It made him happy. If the elf staying here would make the elf and his husband happy then he didn’t see any harm in it.

“We should start investigating what happened to him. We need to know from who we need to protect him” Aiden said, “we shouldn’t tell anyone he is here. Just to be sure” he added. Geralt nodded he agreed with Aiden on that.

“How can we protect him when he starts to live in the woods again?” Eskel asked while sighed heavily.

“I will think of something,” Geralt promised him. “We should go check on him, the kid can’t sleep” he heard how the elf was turning in his bed. Eskel could probably calm him. Eskel stood up and Geralt followed him upstairs.

~

Jaskier guessed he would spend the night awake. The door of his room opened and Geralt and Eskel walked in. “Are you okay, sweetheart? Eskel asked and he sat down on his bed. Jaskier hid his face in his blanket and he didn’t know what to tell him. 

“It’s okay if you can’t sleep,” Eskel patted his hair. After a while he slowly lowered Jaskier’s blanket and made him look at him. Geralt was gone. 

“You okay, can I lay next to you, maybe I can sleep as-well. Jaskier moved to the wall. It was a small bed but Eskel made it fit. He patted Jaskier on his back and started humming a song. Jaskier forced himself to relax and soon fell in a dreamless sleep.


	4. A day in Kaer Morhen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaskier’s first day in Kaer Morhen

Chapter 4: A day in Kaer Morhen 

When Jaskier woke up he felt the soft bed under him and a warm hand on his back. He turned around and looked at Eskel's face. Eskel was still asleep. Jaskier didn’t know what to do. He just lay still and watched Eskel. His face had deep scars on it and they looked painful. Was Eskel using the salve as well? 

The door of his bedroom opened. Geralt appeared quietly. Jaskier looked at him. 

“Come, Eskel didn’t sleep much, let's give him some more hours,” Geralt said. Jaskier climbed out his bed with Geralt's help and followed him downstairs. “Did you sleep well?” Geralt asked while they walked down the stairs. 

“Yeah, Eskel was really nice,” he answered. Geralt smiled “I know that’s why I love him so much”. 

Lambert and Aiden were both sitting in the kitchen. “Can I make you some breakfast?” Lambert asked with a smile while standing up. 

Jaskier tried to smile at him as well. “Some more chicken-soup would be nice”. 

Lambert took a box out of the freezer and started to warm the soup. “Something to drink?,” Lambert asked. Jaskier shakes his head. 

“No, I don’t drink much. I’m not thirsty”. Jaskier saw Geralt and Aiden share a look. So it was a wrong answer. Would they punish him now? He hoped not. 

“May I ask what the date is” he tried to ask politely. He hoped he was allowed to ask questions. 

Jaskier looked at Geralt. “It’s 20 today the day after tomorrow is 22, you can go back then”. Jaskier looked at him surprised. 

“how do you know, there isn’t a calendar here”. Geralt looked lost for a second. “The date is on my phone so I know that it is 20 today” Geralt tried to explain. 

Jaskier put his hands up and started to count on his fingers “20 today, 21 tomorrow, 22, so over three days I can go home, today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.”. That wasn’t too long. 

Geralt looked strange at him. “Yeah I just said that”. Lambert put the soup in front of me. 

“Elf did you go to school?” Aiden asked while he was drinking coffee. Jaskier blew the soup and started eating the soup. Jaskier liked Geralt's soup a lot.

“No schools are dangerous. So I learnt everything an elf needs to know from my family” he told them. 

Lambert sits next to Jaskier “and what kind of things did they learn you” he asked. Jaskier looked at him that was a stupid question. The normal things.

“Everything that you must know, how to fight, how to find food, how to listen, how to use our senses, how to build and repair stuff for the house” he explained. All the witchers were staring at him. Why? Didn’t they learn how to do that?

“Did you learn how to read, do math, and write?” Lambert asked slowly. Jaskier looked at him, he was a bit confused. 

“Of course not my father could do that, it wasn’t a necessary skill for me. But some older family members taught me a bit of that for fun. Geralt you can do those things as well right. You're like the father of this family” Jaskier asked. 

Geralt looked a bit uncomfortable being called the father. But then Geralt just nods “Yeah I can, but Aiden, Lambert and Eskel can as well they learned that. Everyone learns that these days in school”. 

Jaskier dropped his spoon. “Why did you force them to go to school? Every time I start to think that you may be a good non-human. You show me your true, mean face. I think I need to leave now” he yelled. He just insulted a witcher of course he had to leave and fast, Geralt was going to punish him badly. 

“No you don’t, just sit down, in this house we talk about stuff we don’t run away. I don’t know which part of the country you are from but I can tell you schools are pretty safe around here. I went to one. I didn’t force Eskel or Aiden because I didn’t know them back then. When we were young schools like there are nowadays didn’t exist. Maybe you should take the time to get to know me before you decide I’m a mean witcher” Geralt sounds angry. Jaskier swallowed. What should he do? I didn’t want to get hurt. 

Jaskier made himself small “I’m sorry” he hoped apologizing helped. Geralt sighed “don’t be”. 

“Aiden do you have any plans for today?” Lambert decides to change subjects unsubtle. Aiden put the newspaper he was reading down. “Well I have a date with you tonight. I hope to see our elf in my medical room somewhere today and study I guess, what about you?” he asked Lambert. 

Lambert drank slowly from his coffee. “Well, I have an appointment with Vesemir and Letho to talk about some stuff, Geralt should be going but I take over for today”. Ah so Geralt was on babysit duty apparently Jaskier realized. They didn’t want to leave him alone in the house without Geralt yet. 

“What are you going to do elf?” Lambert asks. Jaskier looked at him. 

“Go to Aiden, his medical room, I guess”. Jaskier looked at Aiden who gave him a quick nob. 

“Yeah well, that won’t take all day. Is there something else you like to do? Maybe, watch tv” Lambert asked. Jaskier looked at the tv. 

“No thank you”. He didn’t like watching tv. The only thing on that was the news and he wasn’t interested in that. “What do you like to do in your free time?” Geralt asked and he looked at him.

“Well, I play with the birds or pet a deer. Or sometimes I play with my toys or I practice skills like making a flower crown”. He told them. 

“Okay, that sounds nice, what kind of toys do you have?” Geralt asked.

“I have a teddy bear, a plush dog, a doll and blocks. Those blocks I made myself with my knife. I can do some wood carvings as well” he knew he sounds proud but he didn’t mind. He was very proud of his wood carving skills especially since he found out on his own how it worked. 

“Well if you want I can get you some toys like that” Geralt said, already picking his phone up. 

Jaskier shook his head. “Don’t bother I will be leaving soon. I can just sit by the window and watch the clouds. I like that, I can do that for a few days”. He really liked watching the clouds. He could make many stories with the things he saw in them. 

“You want to spend three days looking at the clouds?” Lambert asked the way he said made Jaskier feel like that was wrong. What could be wrong about that? Did they want him to help around the house or something? 

“That is fine, I enjoy watching them too. Maybe we can watch them together if you like something” Aiden said.

“Yeah that is a great thing to do” Geralt said slowly, clearly unsure. “Aiden, can you take our elf here to check him out. I want to take a walk with Eskel. He is awake. We won’t be gone long”. Aiden started to put the dishes away. “Sure, take your time”. 

Jaskier followed Aiden to some kind of doctor office, He visited one before when he was very sick. The doctor gave him shots. It hurt a lot. I hoped Aiden wouldn’t give him those. 

~

Eskel put his coat on and took Geralt’s hand. “Just a quick walk right” he checked. He didn’t want to leave the elf alone for too long. What if he got scared again. He would probably need Eskel to calm him. 

“Of course. We will even stay within hearing distance” Geralt told him. Geralt closed the door behind them and started to walk. 

“You know, even if the elf moves back to his woods he will still be our responsibility. The way he acts and behaves makes me doubt how good he is at taking care of himself” Eskel started. The elf had been so thin and his body had so many scars and bruises on it. Eskel wanted to wrap him in a hug and never let the poor kid go. 

“Well he survived the last seven years in the woods. But I agree that that is probably more because he got lucky then because of his great survival skills” Geralt said. “He is very childlike I think. He plays with toys, let you take care of him, he even let you bath him”. 

“Yeah, but if he had a very rough childhood and lifted on his own without other people since he was twelve it logical he still likes those things” Eskel said, nobody ever showed him other things. No friends told him playing with blocks was boring or for little kids so the elf kept doing that.

“I guess you're right. I think we should stimulate him to keep doing so. It apparently makes him feel safe. We do have to teach him how to write and read I think. And basic math, well counting at least” Geralt said. If he could read and write they could give him a phone to text him. 

“Yeah, it’s very uncommon that people don’t know how to do that, these days” Eskel sighed in another century it was very common people couldn’t read or write, but nowadays it was an important and necessary skill. “If he wants to learn I will teach him”. 

“It will be like raising a kid I guess, teaching him how to brush his teeth, how to bathe, how to write his own name” Geralt said. “Are you sure you're up to that?. He isn’t a real child”. Geralt hoped his husband wouldn’t get hurt when the elf left again.

“Well it’s clear that he won’t live with us forever. But yeah I’m up for it. I loved taking care of him last night. I think I will enjoy that for a few extra days” Eskel said with a smile. 

“Okay then but promise me you take care of yourself as well” Geralt said. He pulled Eskel close and kissed him on his lips. “You're important to me” he whispered.

Eskel hugged. “I know, you are important to me too. Love you”. 

~  
Jaskier watched Aiden in the medical room. Aiden smiled at him. “Okay can you take your pajama shirt off and sit on the table”. Aiden asked, Jaskier did what Aiden asked and he walked to him with some kind of medical equipment.

“It feels cold but it won’t hurt. I can listen to your heartbeat and longs better this way” Aiden explained. He put it on Jaskier's chest and moved it around a few times. He told Jaskier to take a deep breath. Jaskier tried to do exactly what Aiden asked. He didn’t know if Aiden would punish him if he didn’t listen. 

“Very good, that sounds healthy to me. Now I’m going to put a sleeve on your arm to take your blood pressure. It won't take long” Aiden explained. Jaskier let Aiden put a sleeve around his arm. 

Jaskier didn’t mind the sleeve, it became very tight for a few seconds but it didn’t hurt. Aiden was trying to help him, Jaskier thought. So he shouldn’t mind the sleeve, if it made Aiden happy. 

“It is a bit low, but nothing to be really worried about. It's probably because you didn’t eat and drink much. Tell me why don’t you drink so much” Aiden asked. 

“Well, I can’t drink the water from the river or from the stream in the woods. They make me sick. So I drink the rainwater. I made a bucket where I tried to collect it. But sometimes it doesn’t rain for a long time. So my body is only used to a little water a day. It's not like I get dehydrated or something. I think at least, the worst thing that happens is that I get dizzy or that it hurts a lot to pee when I haven't peed for a long time. Or my belly and lower back hurt. It makes me cry sometimes” Jaskier explained. He didn’t like that sometimes he even drank water from the river when the pain got too bad. 

Aiden let him talk. “Dizzy spells and pain when you are urinating are symptoms of dehydration or bladder infections. Just like pain in your belly and lower back. You probably did get dehydrated. I understand that it is difficult in the woods but you should really try to drink at least one liter and halve a day. Are you experiencing dizziness, pain by peeing or pain in your belly or lower back right now?” Aiden asked. Looking him up and down. 

Jaskier shook his head. “I’m not dizzy and the last time I peed it didn’t hurt much. My belly hurt just a little bit” he told Aiden honestly. It wasn’t to bad. 

Aiden smiled. “May I ask when the last time was that you peed?” Aiden asked.

Jaskier started to think ‘somewhere” he mumbled. And he counted on his fingers. Counting was so hard. “One is yesterday, two, two is two days ago. Today is zero today. Today, yesterday, the day before yesterday. Zero, one, two. Two days ago I think” he wasn’t sure if the day before yesterday was really two days ago. But it was probably close. 

Aiden’s smile fell from his face. “That is something that is very unhealthy. Your kidneys can be damaged if you don’t pee for so long. I think it is really important that you drink a lot today, at least one glass every hour, until you can pee again. And when you pee you need to put some in a little cup. I will give you one. I want make sure you didn’t catch an infection” Aiden said. Was Aiden mad? He did say Jaskier was very unhealthy. Jaskier his lip trembled. 

“I’m sorry,” he told Aiden.

“Don’t be. I’m not mad, just worried. You did everything you could. Just make sure to pee in the cupand bring it to me” Aiden said and he forced himself to smile. 

Jaskier stared at Aiden. “That is very weird. I never did that before” he told Aiden.

Aiden forced his smile back up. “I understand but will you do it please. It’s very important”. Aiden was nice to Jaskier and it wasn’t like Jaskier could say no. 

“Fine, just one time”. Aiden draws some blood before he weighs Jaskier and finally lets him watch the clouds, well he forces him to drink a glass of water first. Aiden was weird but also nice. Jaskier liked him. 

He was sitting down on the floor in the kitchen watching the clouds. One looked like a dog. Eskel sat down next to Jaskier on the floor. “How are you?” He asked. Jaskier looked at him.

“I’m very unhealthy” he told Eskel just like Aiden told him. Eskel looked surprised. 

“What? What’s wrong with you?” Eskel asked while he was looking Jaskier up and down.

“Something that will force me to pee in a cup and I have to drink a lot of water. A glass every hour. Like I know what an hour is” Jaskier sighed. He knew an hour was more than a minute and shorter than a day. But he had know idea what exactly an hour was.

“Do you mind if I asked Aiden about your health” Eskel asked. Jaskier shook his head. Eskel stood and walked to the medical room. 

~

Eskel walked to Aiden’s room and sat down on the bed. “Our elf tells me that he is very unhealthy” Eskel said. Aiden sighed loudly.

‘The kid isn’t drinking or peeing for days. So he probably has a bladder infection in the best case senario. He needs to drink a lot today and bring me some urine samples to check. I’m just checking his bloodstamples. It shows signs of infection” Aiden explained.

“A glass every hour?” Eskel checked. Aiden nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I would recommend”.

Eskel shook his head. “Yeah I understand that. But the elf had know idea what an hour is”. Aiden opened his mouth and closed it again. Then he spoke. “His cognitive age doesn’t match his real age. I should have relized that”. Aiden wrote something down quickly.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it too much. I will make sure he drinks a lot and pees in your cup” Eskel said while he jumped off the table. “Anything else I should know?” He checked. Aiden shook his head.

~

Eskel walked back to the living room and immediately made a glass of water for the elf. “Here. I will make sure your drink every hour. Do you want me to explain the clock to you or would you rather draw?” Eskel asked while Jaskier took a little snip from the glas.

“Can you teach me how to draw?” Jaskier asked, surprised. Eskel nodded immediately. 

“Sure, let me get the right stuff,” Eskel said. Jaskier watched Eskel moving around the kitchen. He never drew before he hoped he could do it. Eskel sat down next to him and put some papers in front of them. He gave Jaskier a pencil.

“Try drawing a house,” he told Jaskier. Jaskier held the pencil in his first and tried to make a line. It wasn’t straight or anything but it was his first line. He drew a second one and then he tried the roof. It looked a bit like a house. He just drew something. He giggled out loud.

“Well done elf. Very good. Try a tree now” Eskel said while he was drawing a horse himself. Jaskier hoped that if he practiced he would be as good as Eskel one day. 

Jaskier didn’t find it easy to accept it but his first day with Geralt and his family had been nice. Eskel had spent hours with him learning him how to draw. Geralt gave him something called ice cream that he really loved. But now there was a problem. He had to pee. He didn’t know what to do. Where was that cup? He put down the teddy bear Geralt got him to play with. He looked around. Eskel was cooking dinner with Geralt. 

“Help” he said and he was scared of what would happen now. Geralt and Eskel both turned around and rushed over to him. 

“What’s wrong kid?” Geralt asked, while Eskel immediately took his shoulder and looked him over. 

“I think I need to pee,” he whispered. He didn’t dare to look at them. 

“Alright let’s go to the bathroom” Eskel said and he took Jaskier his hand and guided him to the bathroom. 

Eskel was holding a plastic cup in his hand. “You just have to pee in it”. Jaskier dropped his pants and underwear and took the cup. “Sit down on the toilet” Eskel told him and guided him to sit down. Jaskier felt himself panicking. He hadn’t used a toilet in a long time. He felt Eskel pushing the cup against his penis.

“Just let go,” Eskel said. He was holding the cup in one hand and used the other to path Jaskier his belly softly. Jaskier took a deep breath and let go. It hurt! It burned! He started crying. Eskel immediately pulled him in his lap pushing him against his chest. 

“Ssh, It's okay. It’s okay” Eskel said he was rocking Jaskier back and forth. 

“Should I get Aiden?” Geralt asked. When did Geralt get in the bathroom?

“No just bring him the cup. Tell him it hurt the kid a lot” Eskel said. He kept holding Jaskier until Jaskier calmed down because the pain was less intense now. Eskel moved him a bit away from his chest so he could look at him.

“Aiden is going to make it all better,” he told him. Jaskier nodded he was glad Aiden was going to help him and he stood up. His lower half was still naked and he saw he peed on Eskel.

“I’m sorry” he whispered. Eskel smiled. “Don’t worry about it”. Eskel helped him get dressed again. “Let’s eat. Eskel took Jaskier downstairs. 

“Elf, we are eating lasagna, but I made you chicken with carrots, is that okay?” Geralt asked him. 

“Yeah it is fine, if I eat everything will you give me more ice cream” he asked. He remembered that in his old family you only got dessert if you ate everything and behaved very good. 

“Yeah sure, but just don’t over do it, your stomach is still getting used to our food”. 

Eskel was putting plates on the table and Aiden joined us in the kitchen. He hands Jaskier a pill 

“You got a bladder infection, you need to drink a lot of water so you can flush it out. I also have antibiotics for you. This pill is a painkiller it will make peeing hurt less. If it isn’t enough, tell me. I can get stronger ones” Aiden said. Jaskier took the pill and swallowed it. He hoped it would really help with the pain, 

“Wow you made a lot of drawings” Aiden said and looked at the papers on the salon table. 

“Eskel is a good teacher,” Jaskier told him. 

“What do you think, the shopping mall is open tonight. We can go and buy you some new clothes and stuff” Eskel asked Jaskier. 

Jaskier looked at him. “I don’t need new clothes. The clothes I have are fine for this winter and in the summer I don’t wear clothes”. 

Geralt look strange at him. “So in the summer you run around naked” he asked. Jaskier nods 

“well I do wear my underwear sometimes. It can get really hot in the summer and I love running around” he explained. 

Geralt put all the food on the table. “Okay but what about shoes, yours were not in a good condition”. Geralt asked him. 

“I hate shoes, The only reason I wear them is because people in the city will look weird at you if you don’t and the chance that you can steal something is very small then. The wants I have now I stole four years ago don't fit, never did but they work”. He started to eat his food.

“Okay that’s fine, no shoes for you” Eskel said laughing. 

Geralt looked at him. “I guess you're right, Lambert, how were Vesemir and Letho?” he asked the older man. 

“They were fine, they had some info about a few non-human that are traveling. You will probably get a letter from the Letterhove family to visit our city, they are expanding their network. Get some new allies, you know, I wouldn’t accept the leader is very cruel to his non-humans. He takes them in as babies and experiments on them. We can’t be allies with people with ideas like his” Lambert said his voice was full of anger. 

Jaskier dropped his spoon and everyone looked at him. He felt the color disappear from his face. He started to get dizzy and nauseated. 

“Are you okay?” someone asked. Jaskier jumped up. His dad was coming to get him. They were going to come for him. He had to run. He started running. Sweat all over his body. People tried to talk to him but he couldn’t understand the words. The only thing he heard very clear was a voice in his head that said, get out! He opened the front door. People were behind him. He started to run, use everything he had.


	5. Get out!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geralt looks for Jaskier

Chapter 5: Get out!

He didn’t know how long he had run but he was in the woods now, well not his woods. The woods were darker than his. He was so tired and dizzy but he had to get away, he couldn’t afford to stop now. He started running again. His body didn’t want to but his mind did, the thought of his father was a good motivator. 

He fell on the ground but got up again. He didn’t know where he was going, deeper into the woods. In the corner of his eyes he saw movement. His dad was here, oh know! 

He desperately tried to run faster. Someone jumped him. Jaskier was fighting the person. “Let me go, dad. Let me go”. More hands were on him. Oh no the complete family got him. “No,” he yelled. His hands were bound behind his back he felt. There was a voices talking to him. 

~

Geralt ran after the elf, Aiden and Lambert were right behind him. It was raining very hard. That would make it difficult to trace the elf, but Geralt caught a small scent. 

“That way”. They followed the scent. Geralt was angry at himself. The elf had a panic attack and he let him go. Eskel was panicking at home as well. He stayed there for if the elf came back. Geralt was also angry at himself that he hadn’t acted fast enough. The elf just jumped up and ran out. 

“I can’t smell him anymore,” Lambert said looking around. Geralt tried to smell as well. 

“No, why did it have to rain? Let’s split up”. They all run to different streets. Lambert went to the bridge, it was the most likely place to find him, but the original sent told him that the elf was running to a different place, the woods in the north. There was Letho living. 

He swallowed, Lambert told him about the boy and he wouldn’t kill an elf, as long the elf didn’t attack him, but the elf was panicking. He didn’t know what would happen if he fought him. He wasn’t stupid enough to hope that there weren’t there because off the weather, Letho was always in his woods. 

Geralt also started to go to those woods but not without checking every alley and street he passed. His phone started to ring. Letho the phone screen told him. He swallowed and touched the answer. 

“You lost something?,” Letho asked. Geralt immediately took off to the woods in the north and ran faster. 

“Yeah the elf under my protection, don’t hurt him” he told Letho. Letho made an annoyed sound. 

“You know how I can get him to stop fighting the chains? He keeps saying ‘no dad’, begs me to let him go. He is not really with me. Oh and his dinner came up just this moment. I will put him on his side, so he doesn’t coke”. That last part Letho said with a bit of amusement in his voice.

Geralt’s heart went faster. “I’m almost there Letho, where are you in the woods”. He put Letho on speakers and texted Aiden. 

“The open spot by the stream. I think you should call for Aiden. The elf doesn’t look good” Letho said. Geralt hung up and ran. 

When he arrived at the open spot he felt his heart drop. The elf was lying on his side. Letho kept his head looking to the ground to make sure he wouldn’t coke on his own vomit. His arms were bound behind his back and he was fighting the chains. He was whispering, begging and completely wet. His bare feet tried to kick but he lost his strength. It was the saddest thing Geralt had ever seen. 

Letho looked up at him and stood up. “Your boy?” he asked, nodding to the elf. 

Geralt nodded. “Thanks for keeping him safe. You can take the chains off now. I take full responsibility for him” he told the other witcher. 

Letho looked at him. “You take full responsibility for an elf that isn’t in your family? And you only know for a day?”. 

Geralt nods “Lambert told you, he is just a kid with a little knowledge of this world. Treat him as one”. 

He walked over to the elf. Letho took the chains off. The elf tried to get away but Geralt took him in his arms, hugging him tight against his chest. 

“Ssh, take it easy elf. I’m here, it will be fine, no one will hurt you anymore” he whispered in the elf his ear. The elf was still fighting him a little. He pushed the elf’s head in his shoulder and put his own head on top of it, keeping it still. 

“It’s okay baby, your fine. You don’t have to worry anymore” Geralt whispered, rocking him a bit. Letho appeared again and put a big blanket around the elf. 

“Aiden will be here soon. I guess Lambert’s date will be canceled. He was looking forward to it this morning. Eskel is also on his way with your car” Letho told him. 

Geralt thanked Letho, he may dislike the witcher but he was a good man. He kept rocking the elf in his arms petting his head through the wet curls and making slow circles on his back. 

“Ssh, I got you”. He felled the elf go limp in his arms. His heartbeat went slower. Geralt wasn’t sure if he had passed out or fallen asleep but he was grateful that the elf was finally calm. Slowly he lifted the elf up in his arms. 

“I’m going to walk to the car,” he told Letho. Letho walked over to him. 

“Yeah you do that. I will stop by tomorrow to talk about how we are going to handle this” he nodded at the elf. 

“Fine”. Geralt walked away. The elf wasn’t a thing or something that had to be handled. It was a small, scared teenager. 

When he was almost out of the woods Aiden joined him. “Oh god Geralt, is he okay?”. 

Geralt looked down at the elf in his arms. “I don’t know”. 

Aiden gave him a sad look and put his hand on Jaskier’s cheek. “He is cold, is Eskel on his way”. Aiden put the blanket tight around the boy. 

“Yeah I hear the car, let’s go” Geralt said. Together they walked out of the woods.

Eskel ran to them when he saw them appear. “Get in the car, poor elf. Is he okay?”. Eskel pushed the blanket away to see the elf's face. “Poor kid”. 

The ride home was quiet. Geralt rocked the teenager in his arms and Aiden checked him for injuries. He couldn’t find any except the bruises and cuts from the chains. Eskel kept mumbling that he was going to yell at Letho for chaining up a kid. Geralt couldn’t disagree but understood why Letho did it. And if Letho hadn’t caught him who knows what had happened. 

In the house, Geralt brought the elf to the bathroom where Aiden and Eskel washed him in a warm bath, tended his wounds and scars before putting him in his bed. The three of them watched the elf sleep. They all felt miserable. 

“Do you think the Letterhove family was his family where he run away from?” Aiden whispered. Geralt opened his mouth to answer but Lambert who walked in beat him to it. 

“It was, while you were fetching over the kid I did some research. The Letterhove family is a family that doesn’t allow many visitors. They are all non-humans. Mages, werewolves, elves and even a witcher if I got it right. The leader is almost evil. Trying to create his own small kingdom. There are whispers that there are around fifty non-humans in his family. He doesn’t treat them so nice. Non-humans started to leave. Their leader wasn’t very happy about that. He forbade them to contact people outside their family and leaving the family was punished by death. Seven years ago every non-human I know in the state got a letter from their leader. His son was being possessed and left the pack. Fearing for the safety of others, the leader demands that he be killed at sight or returned to him. There is a reward of 50000 dollars for the brave witcher or hunter who brings his boy back. His son was twelve years old. I found the letter in my archive. The picture of this Julian of Letterhove looks like our elf here”. Lambert hands Geralt the picture. 

Geralt swallowed while he looked at the picture. It obviously was the elf. “His own father put a price on his head” Eskel whispered like he couldn’t believe it. Geralt feels the urge to kill someone.

“What are we going to do Geralt?” Aiden asked his voice was full of anger. 

Geralt closed his eyes. “Tonight we keep watching over the elf or Julian now, tomorrow when Letho is here we will write his father a letter back that we don’t agree with his ways to manage his family. He isn’t welcome here and will be killed at first sight” Geralt said. It was probably for the best to keep that man as far as possible from Julian. 

Lambert shook his head. “A coward like that won’t be daring to come within miles of our territory after a letter like that. I although I would to see him try so we can take some revenge for the kid”. 

~

Jaskier opened his eyes, he was lying in his bed. The window told him it was morning. He remembered last night, Letho. He had run away and Geralt found him and took him back to his house. He remembered Lambert talking about his father. He had to make a plan or something, to get away fast. There was a knock on his door. 

“It’s Eskel can I come in?”. Jaskier shook his sleepy head. But he did want a hug from Eskel. He really needed a hug, to feel safe. 

“Yeah” he whispered. The door opened and Eskel walked in and put a plate with breakfast on the nightstand. 

“How are you feeling? Eskel asked while he sat down on Jaskier’s bed, he pushed Jaskier’s hair away from his forehead. “Alright I guess, is Geralt mad?” he asked quietly. Eskel put his hand on Jaskier's leg and handed Jaskier a piece of toast. 

“No of course not. He was very worried about you. Don’t worry Geralt is with Letho and Lambert at the moment making a letter to tell your father that he isn’t welcome in our city. We know Julian”. Jaskier almost dropped the toast he was eating. Did he say Julian? Oh no! How did he know?

“You know my name,” he said upset. 

“We do, Lambert figured it out last night, don't worry about it, your secret's safe with us. We will never let anyone of your family come close to you”.

Jaskier didn’t know what to feel. He believed Eskel but it felt also strange his well hidden secret just wasn’t hidden any more. 

“Why are you helping me and it’s Jaskier. Not Julian” he asked Eskel. 

Eskel sighed. “Okay Jaskier it is. We are helping you because we like you Jaskier, you just found your way in our hearts. We know you are a nice person and we are glad that we can help you” Eskel explained while offering Jaskier some more food. Jaskier only took a small bite from the toast. 

Eskel put the plate back on the nightstand. “Well thank you I guess for not selling me to my dad” Jaskier Whispered.

Eskel smiled at him “ We would never Jaskier. Never, do you want to sleep some more or do you want to come downstairs?” He asked. 

Jaskier looked at his bed, he wasn’t tired anymore. “I guess I could come downstairs” he decided. He flopped the blanket off him and took his time to get out of his bed. Eskel handed him a bathrobe and tied the belt around his middle. Jaskier then slowly walked after Eskel to the kitchen, he wasn’t feeling that well. His belly hurt. 

“So you wanna watch the clouds or do something else?” Eskel asked. Jaskier walked to the window and saw it was raining again. The clouds were dark and moved quickly. He dropped to the floor and looked at Eskel. 

“I will watch it, I still can go home right?”. He needed to know. He needed to know if they would still let him go.

Eskel sat down next to him. “Sure, you know that, I’m just not happy with it. I'm scared something happens to you and we can’t help you” he told Jaskier honestly. 

Jaskier didn’t know what to say, Eskel was worried about him. He didn’t want him to get hurt no one ever cared before. 

“You can come and visit me, I guess I trust you. You are the only person in the world I trust. I trust you because you are very nice to me” Jaskier told him. “I wish you would be my dad”. 

Eskel gave him a hug. “Thank you, I trust you as well, I would love to be your friend or father, Jaskier” Eskel said. 

Jaskier leaned in to the hug. “Okay, I would like that very much”. He had know idea where those words just came from. He wasn’t even sure he really trusted Eskel and meant his words. 

“I’m going to make you something to drink,” Eskel said, moving to stand up. 

“No,” Jaskier said quickly. “I’m not thirsty and my belly is already hurting so I shouldn’t drink”. Eskel kneeled down next to him again. He put his hand against Jaskier, his forehead and cheek. 

“You do feel a bit warm. Maybe your bladder infection is getting worse. You haven't peed since yesterday or drink something. I will get Aiden” Jaskier looked at the floor. Would Aiden be mad at him for making this infection worse. “It will be fine,” Eskel told him before walking to Aiden’s room. 

It didn’t take Eskel long to talk to Aiden because he was already walking back to Jaskier. He sat down in front of him and held his hands in his. “Aiden put painkillers and antibiotics for you in the kitchen. You need to take those. You also need to drink a glass of water every hour and also try to pee every hour. That way the bacteria will flush out. Don’t worry I will help with everything” Eskel told him. 

Jaskier felt his lip tamble. “But it hurt so much. I don’t want to pee”. Eskel nodded. “I know, but it’s important so you can get better. The painkillers should help if they don’t Aiden will give you stronger ones” he kissed Jaskier’s forehead and stood up. 

He filled a glass with water and walked back with it and two pills. Jaskier looked unsure at the pills. “Put them on your tongue and then drink the water,” Eskel explained. Jaskier took a deep breath but followed Eskel’s instructions. 

Jaskier was very nervous when Eskel told him that they would go to the bathroom so Jaskier could try to pee. But thue to his word Eskel stayed with him the whole time. The first two times nothing came out, but the third time he had to pee. Eskel patted his back when it hurt and told him how proud he was. 

After that he took Jaskier to the couch and pulled him on his lap. He picked up a book. “Do you know the story of Sleeping beauty?” He asked. Jaskier shook his head. Eskel opened the book and started to read the story. Jaskier loved the story and the beautiful drawings . 

~

Eskel was cooking dinner when Geralt and Lambert came back. Jaskier was trying to draw the horse from the story from sleeping beauty. 

“Hé, how did it go?” Eskel asked while kissing Geralt. 

“Fine, we ended up writing new defense protocols and scouted the areas close to Jaskier’s woods. Well I did, I believed Letho and Lambert were in a cafe talking about strategies”. He said the last word like he wasn’t happy with that and didn’t believe them. Jaskier guessed Geralt would punish Lambert later this evening. He had to as head of the family. 

Jaskier also tried to think of other things they could have done in the bar, maybe they made more of those protocols Geralt mentioned earlier. 

“I’m glad to hear that” Eskel said “We had a quiet day. Jaskier watched the clouds and drew some things, I did some cleaning and Aiden was doing Aiden things in his room. I hope you're hungry because I made vegetable soup”. 

Geralt's face fell. “I should have taken Letho's offer to eat Chinese with him”. Eskel hit him play-full with his spoon. 

Jaskier watched them with interest. Geralt let Eskel hit him, he even laughed. This really was a special family. 

“Just set the table white wolf,” Eskel said. Jaskier froze, Geralt was not going to take commands from Eskel, he would attack Eskel for that, Jaskier had to do something, Eskel was his friend. Geralt looked at him. 

“You okay?” Geralt asked while starting to set the table, Jaskier didn’t know how to react. Geralt followed Eskel his orders.

“Jaskier, are you okay?” Eskel asked. Jaskier forced himself to react. 

“Yeah I am”. He dropped his pencil. 

“Good come sit at the table” Geralt said. Jaskier jumped up and went to the table. It was possible that Geralt would punish Eskel later when Jaskier wasn’t close. He didn’t want to see or hear Eskel in pain. Eskel took care of Jaskier, Jaskier had to take care of him too. 

He remembered one time in his old family, one of the little kids had done something wrong and Jaskier had offered to the alpha to take the punishment, the alpha had agreed but dubbed the amount of hits he was going to give the kid. Maybe Geralt would do that as well. Maybe Jaskier could take a punishment for Eskel?


	6. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be up this weekend instead of friday

Chapter 6: Trust

Jaskier swallowed, he never wanted to do this again but he had to. He walked over to Geralt. He slowly took his shirt off, he saw that Geralt and Eskel were looking strangely at him. He fell to his knees showing his bare back to Geralt. 

“Please witcher don’t punish Eskel, he didn’t know better, I will take his punishment. You may hit me with whatever you want and how long you want. I won’t scream. I will be good. Don’t hurt Eskel. I take responsibility” he voice was tambling and he felt his body shake as well. He closed his eyes waiting for the hits of even kicks. 

“Jaskier stand up, what are you doing?” Eskel sounded like he was panicking. 

“Be quiet Eskel, I will take it. Don’t worry” he told him. Eskel walked to him and kneed in front of him holding his shoulders. “Please Jaskier I don’t understand, Geralt isn’t going to punish me or you. Nobody did anything wrong. Look at me baby” Eskel shook Jaskier’s shoulders. 

Jaskier kept looking at the floor, why was Eskel so naive, “Please Eskel don’t make it worse” he begged. 

Eskel started shaking him harder. “Jaskier, come on nothing is going to happen. Geralt tell him”. 

Geralt slowly pushed Eskel away, Jaskier closed his eyes, getting hits on his ribs was bad, but he understood that after Eskel his behavior the witcher had to be rough. To make an example out of him. 

Geralt lifted his head, his palms felt rough on Jaskier’s cheeks. Jaskier swallowed not his face, do not hit my face he thought. “Jaskier open your eyes and look at me” Geralt told him.

Jaskier immediately obeyed. He looked Geralt right in his eyes. His heart was beating fast in his chest.

“Good, I don’t know what you think you or Eskel have done wrong but I promise you in my life that I never will hit you or him as a punishment or anything else. You both did nothing wrong and even if you had done something wrong I would talk to you, ground you or send you to bed early nothing more. The worst thing that I will ever do to you is yell at you, because I am not as calm as Eskel or Aiden. I will never hurt you physically. No one should ever do that to you kid”. He pulled Jaskier into a hug. His warm hands moved slowly over his back. “You're safe Jaskier, you're okay” Geralt whispered. 

Jaskier didn’t know what to think or say. He couldn’t do one of them at the moment even if his life would depend on it. So he let Geralt hold him, Eskel joined the hug, Jaskier felled tears on his shoulder, Eskel was crying. Why was he sad?

“You're sad,” Jaskier said looking at him.

Eskel quickly brushed a hand over his cheek. “Just promise me Jaskier that you will never do that again, not for me or for someone else. I need you to promise me that you will never offer to someone to hurt you. And promise me that someone does that you fight back with everything you got. Promise”. He half yelled half cried to Jaskier. 

Jaskier shook his head, “I can’t do that, I just can’t”. He jumped up, the feeling to get away was there again. But Geralt took hold off his arms. “No you don’t. In this house you don’t run away, we talk, remember?”. 

Eskel gently took Geralt's hands off Jaskier 's arms. “Geralt, he doesn’t understand our ways yet. This will scare him. Aiden takes Jaskier to his room, so he can calm down. I need to talk to Geralt”. 

Aiden took Jaskier's hand and took him away from the kitchen. 

~

Eskel watched Aiden and Jaskier go. He quickly turned off the stove. “Let’s go to our room to talk” Geralt nodded and followed him to their bedroom. 

“He was abused even worse than we thought,” Eskel whispered when he closed the door. Geralt sat down at the bed and nodded. “He is deeply traumatized,” he said.

“What can we do?” Eskel asked, sighing heavily.

“Nothing. Just be there for him and teach him that there are good persons in this world” Geralt told him. Eskel didn’t like it that he couldn’t do more. He wanted to help Jaskier so badly. 

“He told me he wished I was his dad,” Eskel told his lover. Geralt looked up at him. Eskel saw he was thinking about it. “So be his father, he could use one” Geralt then said.

“You think, I mean. He is already an adult. Maybe it isn’t right” Eskel looked at the floor.

“You and I both know age is just a number. The kid, let you wash him, wipe his butt, feed him, read him stories. Those are things fathers do. I think you are a good father figure for him” Geralt decided.

“I guess you're right” Eskel said and he really hoped Geralt was. 

~

Jaskier sat down on his bed and he felt empty and suddenly very cold. “I think you're very brave” Aiden said and he was sitting next to him now.

“Why?” Jaskier asked back, he was everything except brave, he had run from his family and hid in the woods for years.

“You were willing to take Eskel his place if Geralt would have punished him. That is brave” Aiden explained. 

Jaskier suddenly felt tears on his cheeks. “I’m not brave,” he whispered. “I ran away when I couldn’t take the pain anymore. If I was brave I would have stayed and taken the pain. Now others have to suffer”. 

Aiden pulls him in a hug. “You have know idea how brave it was that you did that at your age back then, taking others pain or punishment isn’t your job. They can run away as well and find a safe home just like you did. I’m not saying the ones that stayed in your old family are cowards but what you did to leave, to run. You stop accepting that, that was your life. You took responsibility for your life and to do something like that is incredibly brave” Aiden told him. 

Jaskier listened to Aiden and took in his words, maybe Aiden was right, just maybe. 

They sat next to each other for some time until there was a knock on the door.

“It’s Lambert with soup and water,” Lambert said. Jaskier asked him to come in and Lambert gave them both their food. 

“Everything alright here?” Lambert asked. Aiden looked at me. 

“Yeah I'm fine now, are Geralt and Eskel still talking or can I speak to them”. Jaskier asked. 

Lambert smiled at him. “I think you can talk to them, you know what eat your soup and go to their room” 

~

Jaskier stood in front of the bedroom door. He knew that Geralt and Eskel knew he was there and still he couldn’t make himself knock. What if they were still talking to each other. He played with his sleeve. It was a light blue sweater that Lambert gave him when he saw that Jaskier was cold. 

“Keep it” Lambert told him. Be brave, be brave Jaskier told himself and then knocked on the door it was a quiet, quick knock a human properly would not even hear. 

“Come in,” Geralt said immediately, he was probably waiting for the knock. Jaskier opened the door and slowly stepped into the room. Geralt was lying on the bed arms behind his back and Eskel was sitting in a rocking chair in the corner of the room. 

“Good to see you Jaskier, how do you feel?” Eskel asked, he immediately smiled at him.

“I feel fine, I think I need to explain my behavior to you,” Jaskier said, looking from Geralt to Eskel and back. 

“You don’t have to,” Geralt said. 

“I want to, Eskel told you to set the table and in my old family nobody told dad, the leader what to do, if you did he told us that the leader knows best and never follows someone else's commands. Then he punished you for it. If you had to take punishment, you had to take off your shirt like I did. You could take over someone else's punishment if you were willing to take double. I told Eskel he was my friend this afternoon and I don’t let my friends get hit. So you understand now”. He knew he was talking fast and almost forgot to breath.

“We understand, and I’m glad that you see Eskel as your friend, but like I told you before, never fear to be hurt by my hand” Geralt said. Jaskier nodded. “Yeah I know that now”. 

“You must have been so terrified when you asked Geralt to hurt you” Eskel said quietly. Jaskier shook his head. He waived Jaskier over to sit on his lap. 

“No, I was being brave, Aiden told me,” Jaskier said. 

Eskel gives him a small smile. “Aiden is absolutely right, you are incredibly brave. Please come give me a hug”. 

Eskel opens his arms. Jaskier snuggled in them and let him hug him. Jaskier wonders if all other families are so willing to hug each other, he almost started to feel bad for leaving all of them tomorrow when he went home again. Eskel pulled him against his chest and patted his back while the rocking chair moved. “Did you drink, pee and took your medicine?” Eskel checked. Jaskier nodded and Aiden made sure he did. 

Jaskier found himself relaxing and closing his eyes, He wanted to think more but he was too tired and fell asleep. 

~

Jaskier woke up from the sunlight in his eyes. It was already morning. He was laying in his own bed and a blanket was tucked tight around him. It smelled like Geralt, so he must have brought him to bed. 

Then he remembers. Today! He’s going home. He’s going home! He jumped out of his bed and put his old clothes and the stupid shoes on. He quickly left the bedroom. He just needed to thank Geralt and Eskel for letting him stay before he leaves. It’s still early. Maybe it is better this way. He started to like living here a bit to match, but he should leave a thankyou gift. He sees his drawing paper on the floor and gets an idea. He takes one paper and draws a big heart just like Eskel learned him. He empty his pockets. There are some coins and candy that he stole in the city. He put them all in the circle. For the first time in his life he wished that he knew how to write ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’. He gave the house one last look before he ran out of the front door.

He ran through the city, the house is quite far away from the woods, but he didn’t mind even if he had to run all day he would have done it. Finely he sees the bridge. The fence is gone and you can cross the bridge again. He runs over the bridge and sees his woods, he smiles from ear to ear. Of course he will miss Geralt, Aiden, and especially Eskel but here he is safe, here he is happy and here is his life. 

He doesn’t know how fast he has run to find his treehouse so quickly, it's still there of course but seeing makes it real. He threw off his shoes and climbed in the tree. He softly touches all his toys, his wood carvings, his fluffy dog, his doll, his teddy bear and even his blocks are still just like he left them. He picked up his teddy bear and started telling him what happened the last couple of days, it's quite a story but Teddy listens like always.


	7. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Updates will be a bit slower because of work

Eskel climbed out of his bed. Geralt was still sleeping, Eskel kissed his hair. He opened the door of his room and went to Jaskier’s room to check on him. He focused on his heartbeat to hear if the boy was sleeping peacefully or not. He didn’t hear anything. 

“Geralt'' he yelled while he threw the door of Jaskier’s room open. The boy wasn’t there. Eskel took a deep breath at least Jaskier wasn’t dead or anything. But where was he?

“What’s wrong?” Geralt asked, pushing him aside and looking in the empty room as well. Eskel looked at him. “He’s gone. Jaskier should be in his bed”. Geralt just nodded looking around for a moment, probably focusing on everything that was happening in their house. 

“Calm down” Geralt then said and he left the room. Eskel followed him downstairs. Geralt stopped by the table and looked at a drawing from Jaskier. Eskel swallowed when he looked as well. Jaskier went home. He left them a few gifts. 

“I will miss him,” Eskel whispered while playing with the gifts. Geralt pushed him against his chest and kissed his head. Eskel loved taking care of Jaskier, feeling a little bit like a dad. Jaskier had been so innocent and depended so much on Eskel. 

“Let's visit him. See if he arrived safely. But Eskel you knew this would happen” Geralt said. Eskel nodded yes, he did know this was going to happen but that didn’t mean he had to like it right? 

“And besides he will still need you Eskel,” Geralt continued. Eskel wanted to believe him but he doubted that Jaskier would really need him. The boy lived on his own for so long. “We must bring him water and his medicine. And a timer or something so he knows when to drink” Eskel said while wiping the tears out of his eyes. 

“We will get that for him. And Eskel. I really wished for you that Jaskier had stayed, that he had become your son or maybe our son” Geralt said, squeezing Eskel’s hand. 

“I know” Eskel said because it was true Geralt only wanted the best for him and if taking the kid in or even adopted him would make Eskel happy Geralt would immediately do so. 

Eskel took a deep breath and went to get dressed.

~

Jaskier was still talking to Teddy when he heard voices. He recognized the voices immediately. Geralt and Eskel were in his woods. He looked down from his treehouse and saw them walking to him. They were both smiling. They would ask him to come back right. He felt himself getting a bit nervous. 

“Hi Jaskier, thank you for your beautiful drawing and presents,” Eskel said happily. Jaskier smiled, he was glad they liked it. The way Eskel talked so softly made Jaskier relax a bit. He climbed down the tree and stood in front of Eskel and Geralt. He couldn’t stop himself from giving Eskel a hug. Eskel hugged him back and kissed his forehead before letting him go. 

“So here do you live?” Geralt said while he looked around. “It’s a nice spot”. Jaskier smiled, he hoped Geralt meant it. He was quite proud of his home. 

“I built the house myself,” he told them. Geralt nodded and patted his shoulder. “You did well”. 

Eskel opened his bag. “I brought you bottles with fresh water and a timer. So you can keep drinking enough the next couple of days. When the timers go off you need to drink. I also brought you your medicine. Shall I bring it to your house?” Eskel offered. Jaskier looked at the big bottles of water. He could fill a swimming pool with that amount. No way he was going to drink it all. But he nodded at Eskel who immediately climbed in the tree. It was better not to tell Eskel it was too much, he didn’t think Eskel would agree. 

“Jask baby, I don’t see any blankets here. How do you keep warm” Eskel yelled down. Jaskier sighed. “You get used to it” he just answered. It was true it could get very cold in the treehouse but Jaskier didn’t mind everything was better than living with a family somewhere. 

“We will bring you some blankets and a few tick pajamas” Eskel said while he climbed down again. “You sure you want to stay here? You can come back to our house and stay there with us” he offered. Jaskier sighed. This was not what he wanted. They would leave him alone they promised. But Eskel meant well.

“I’m very sure Eskel. It’s kind you want to bring me stuff but it isn’t necessary. I can take care of myself. I always did” he told him. 

Eskel walked over to him to hug him. “I know, but I don’t like it that you are cold at night”. Jaskier leaned in to the hug. Somewhere he wished he could just go home with them but there was not much at risk here.

“Do you want me to catch some rabbits for you? I haven’t done that for a long time but I’m sure I can catch some for you” Geralt offered. Jaskier let go of Eskel. It was a nice offer from Geralt but he had been eating well the last few days so there was no need.

“No thank you Geralt. Maybe in a few weeks when I’m very hungry” he said. “I saw a stork this morning so someone is getting a baby” he changed the subject, no longer wanting to talk about himself.

“A stork” Eskel repeated confused. Jaskier didn’t understand where the confusion would come from.

“Yeah, you know a stork. They bring newborns to mothers” he explained. I hope it’s healthy it’s quite cold to fly with this weather” he continued. Babies who were brought by bad weather got really sick sometimes, he knew. That was why his little brother cried so much as a baby his father explained.

“So you think, babies are brought to families by a stork” Geralt checked. Jaskier nodded “of course? What did you think”. He saw that Geralt was thinking about that question. 

“Nothing we think so too” Eskel said. Jaskier saw that he gave Geralt a look. 

“What?” Jaskier asked, this subject was getting so confusing. 

“Did you ever see a pregnant woman?” Geralt checked. Jaskier looked confused. He never heard that word.

“What is that?” He asked.

“That a woman her belly gets really big when she is expecting” Eskel explained. Jaskier shook his head. “I never saw the woman. They lived somewhere else. Father just went to them to pick up the babies'' Jaskier said. I did have a sister but her belly never grew big”. She had been quite thin, too thin even.

“Okay” Eskel said Jaskier saw that he and Geralt were thinking about this.

“So you never saw your mother” Geralt checked. Jaskier shook his head.

“We didn’t need mothers, we had dad” he explained just like dad explained to him a few times.

“And your dad is an elf as well,” Eskel asked slowly.

“No dad was a vampire,” Jaskier said. “Sometimes he would take blood from us”. 

“That’s….” Eskel started but he didn’t finish. “Where your brothers and sisters elfs” he then asked. Jaskier shook his head again. “No but they were non-humans. My brother had magic and my sister could sing but she was also dangerous”. She could make people do things when she sang.

“What was your dad’s name?” Geralt asked.

“Stregobor,” Jaskier said. “We lived in Letterhove and dad’s name was Stregobor”. Eskel and Geralt were silent for some time.

“Why don’t you show me your toys?” Geralt then said. Jaskier was glad the subject was over. 

“Yeah, you should see teddy and my blocks,” he said happily.

~

“Stregobor isn’t his real dad. Jaskier is a full elf. Stregobor must be stealing babies for his weird hobbies. He isn’t even a vampire. He probably is using their blood for dark magic” Geralt said his voice was full anger and he gripped the steering wheel tight.

“I know. But we also know that his parents probably won’t be alive. Sick mage that he is” Eskel said, he felt terrible knowing that Stregobor was Jaskier his father. At least acted like he was. Stregobor probably killed Jaskier’s real parents. 

“How did we not know he was even still alive?” Geralt yelled. “I'm going to kill him”. 

Eskel shook his head. “No you won’t because there is a chance we won’t win from him and his children. I don’t want you dead”. He meant it, the time that they hunt monsters and had to choose between lesser evil lay far behind them. They just tried to be happy now.

“But he deserves it,” Geralt said, a little bit calmer. 

“Yes he does. But we won’t do it. We will take care of Jaskier and each other and nothing more”. He did learn that revenge wasn’t sweet. It only made more people hurt and brought a lot of pain.

“You have to give him the sex talk” Geralt said his voice was tence.

“I will, but not anytime soon. Maybe when he meets a girl” Eskel said, he wasn't looking forward to telling Jaskier everything about the birds and the bees. But he guessed he had too.

“Those talks aren’t only about girls, '' Geralt said, still a bit too tense.

“Yes, I will tell him about boys too,” Eskel sighed. Of course he would, he had married a man himself.

“That’s not what I mean. He is an elf so he develops slower. But soon he will have hair on his hair or have a wet dream” Geralt said and Eskel laughed.

“A wet dream about what? Rabbits? It’s not like he sees a lot of people” he joked.

“Eskel, you know what I mean. You have to explain his body to him, just like you teach him how to bath” Geralt said, angrily. Eskel was surprised by that anger. He knew it was because of Stregobor.

“I know and I will Geralt,” he said. Geralt parked the car.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this story. I really hope you enjoy it. Kodus make me very happy 😊
> 
> If you want to chat, beta-read a story, have a plot suggestion for me or something completely different I’m Kapoentjes on Tumblr. I love writing so if you like something specific let me know 😊  
> Link Tumblr: https://kapoentjes.tumblr.com/


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